it's nine pm moscow time the main news tonight the syrian opposition says washington shouldn't label any group fighting the assad regime is a terrorist that has a massive blast rocks damascus. but there is no word from america on changing its definition says there has been overwhelming evidence terrorists by a long sight the rebels more details coming up. the other big stories of the day north korea's rocket blast so often a message of defiance gone young says it sent a weather satellite into space but it's enough to unnerve the region. and president putin vows to cage the corrupt and says it's time for russians to seize the initiative in their country's development.

in a very good evening to if you just joined us money kevin i mean this is our first syria's main opposition group says the u.s. should reconsider its decision to add an al qaeda linked group to its list of terrorist organizations saying it's helping them in their fight to topple president bashar assad this is the united states becomes the latest country to openly declared support for the opposition coalition meantime there's been an explosion in the last few hours of some of the interior ministry building in the syrian capital damascus he's going to teach you can see in washington his gun hi there why is america willing to support the opposition movement while claiming one of the factions has links it says to al qaeda. well kevin it's clear that washington is trying to distance itself from extremists in syria they have designated the front carrousel can ization it's

a sock to be one of the most aggressive and ruthless groups currently involved in the conflict washington decision to call them terrorists is seen as more of a symbolic move because many other fighters in syria possibly most of them welcome the efforts of those designated terrorists efforts that include suicide bombings and killing of prisoners just this wednesday. a bombing rock to damascus it took off when you're at the interior ministry in damascus we don't know whether it was. or another rebel who are responsible for that in fact the leader of the very syrian opposition coalition which the u.s. has just formally recognized and is supported by came out and asked the u.s. to weak the siddur their decision on almost right because they've been so helpful helpful in the fight against here's what he said. the decision of considering one of the factions fighting the regime is

a terrorist organization should be reconsidered and we all madly love our country might differ with some groups and ideology and political views we confirm that all the rifles of all the rebels are united and we aim at toppling the criminal tyrant regime. and then this opposition leader went on to talk about how important religion is in their fight he says and i quote martyrdom for the sake of allah has always been a main motive for people's freedom end of quote so that's the idea of freedom but the leader of the syrian rebels pass in short the u.s. supports the syrian rebels and their aspirations for freedom while the rebels they are are thinking terrorists but the decision to formally recognize the syrian opposition coalition will pave the way for more support for the rebels and they're asking for weapons for a lot of weapons including heavy artillery in this report i'm taking

a closer look at the rebels in syria. they call themselves martyrs and all those you see around you of the fighters you see are living martyrs and the living martyr has already sacrificed a soul for this country the syrian rebels say they will stop at nothing to defeat us sot. some of them are so proud of their deeds that they post them on the web including the execution of prisoners. or having a child behead a man who was presumably an ocelot supporter atrocities are committed on all fronts during syria's bloody civil war according to many accounts on the ground islamic groups that do most of the fighting on behalf of the rebels dr tatar we come meet was a member of a jihadi spoken ization twenty five years ago he later became a vocal opponent of radical islam that you have this have no problem to behead people alive you deal with people like bin ladin and there are because of al qaida

who have no his e.t.a. shin feels any form of whip on to to really. like. control any place. religious believes an ideology representatives of opposition fighters came together in turkey last friday to form a unified command with the support of the so-called friends of syria including the gulf states the u.s. the u.k. and friends one of the delegates at the meeting says two thirds of the islamist dominated anti assad groups have ties to the muslim brotherhood and salafist people here in washington don't seem to understand that if you don't like the government in karo or if you do like the government in cairo i guess i should say then you will love the government that comes to power in damascus because you will see a sunni muslim islamised government a muslim brotherhood style government that is absolutely intolerant fundamentally hostile to the west washington has failed to officially denounce the many suicide bombings perpetrated by the rebels in syria preferring to. focused on the wrongs

committed by the assad regime alone the u.s. is also ramping up the rhetoric about the possibility of the assad government using chemical weapons against civilians something that damascus says would be suicidal on the other hand many rebels are not averse to the idea of suicide in the name of what they call holy war militants have recently taken control of a toxic chemical plant in the country's second city of aleppo a video was uploaded to youtube showing them testing chemical weapons on rabbits we could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage for them alone you will die like these two rabbits in its own words the assad government is fighting terrorists that battle has claimed thousands of innocent lives the measures the syrian government resorted to have been widely criticized but does that crisis mean the world should keep their eyes shocked at who's actually fighting for power in syria now in washington i'm going to check on. north korea successfully launched

a rocket today to fine warnings from its neighbors and the united states it's the second attempt this year after a failure back in april pyongyang says it sent a weather satellite helping to washington seoul and tokyo play much tension no manged mission to even threaten fresh sanctions now saying the north violated international law as it banned from conducting ballistic missile tests by the u.n. washington called the launch chinee provocative while japan wants a tough response from the u.n. security council north korea expert professor to frank told us the pressure on pyongyang that was never yielded results before. sanctions are of course an appropriate means to show your political dissatisfaction but in terms of being effective if they are almost useless in terms of north korea sanctions of the applied for decades north korea had enough time to find ways around those sanctions there are humanitarian concerns as to why is the try to so i think sanctions are more or less a symbolical function but they will have very little actual effects overall for

veterans a rocket or a missile is definitely a question of interpretation from a political perspective because technically both devices live you say is the difference is that the pay a little bit you put a saddle on top it's a rocket you put a nuclear warhead on top it's a missile basically it's the same thing regarding the u.s. to see a resolution and there are various interpretations i'm no legal expert but i don't at all so we're definitely doesn't believe this resolution is enough to prohibit. all of that launchers for peaceful purposes frankly speaking i do not really believe that north korea intends an all out attack on its neighbors this program including nuclear program house purely defensive and in terms of purposes it's knows no sides are interested how a war because if you go war in korea both careers the action is off for a lot as long as the regime is stable and also does actually keep pressure there's no immediate. danger over you know. president putin promises that no corrupt

official politician will go unpunished over that's who we are but russia during his first address and for turning to the kremlin and u.k. reveals he's going to step up to revive its flagging economy but the rich could rest to be is the government's going to be targeting the poorest we talk about that after the break. in the glow of russia's no family from civilization and history are one helicopter treat from the nearest village. they stole one family have been living here for

a long time in tents made of reindeer skins. lodging runs in aid signal and minutes they also grew up in the tunes but left it at the age of six and never returned they now live in the city in apartment building but still remember their regions. was planted here is a dancing teacher. was. it still his stance is he tells the stories about his motherland. lives in europe to now has

a one thousand strong reindeer had when the enemy only saw the lichen and marks around who it is gather their turns and move to another posture they travel hundreds of kilometers in winter women and children for them while the two families have less of a chance to come across each other they belong to different worlds even though there's sometimes a similar. immediate crackdown on corruption here in russia with tough pressure on all official suspected of wrongdoings president putin focused strongly on how to solve problems at home in his first address since returning to the top job a lecture is your skills more of what the russian leader had to say. several years

ago when former president medvedev addressed russia's lawmakers this signaled major constitutional changes for the country with the presidential term being extended to six years this time when president putin delivered his first annual address after returning to the kremlin for the third time it ran no major sensations nor political changes but at the same time this speech was even more significant as some have already said than many others before this time putin barely spoke about any foreign policy issues the main focus was on domestic problems in russia and there have been plenty according to russia's president in fact he started his speech by saying it is now or never as the world is going through a crisis russia must stand up to all these challenges and the first and the most correct way to do that is to invest in two youths not richard is that what's that clear as of today the percentage of healthy active able bodied people in russia

aged between twenty to forty is one of the highest in the world twenty years' time economically active population could shrink by fifty percent less we do something this trend will continue either we provide interesting jobs give opportunities to create business build families raise children be happy just a few decades russia will become a poor country populated by an elderly generation incapable of preserving its own territory but probably the biggest problem dragging russia back for the past two decades has been corruption among the higher echelons of power that is because the largest probably the largest chunk of speech was dedicated to this burning issue clearest and probably the toughest message coming out from the russian president this time on the fight against corruption was that no official regardless of how high she or he or she is can feel safe from punishment if he or she is found in

embezzlement or any corrupt of actions in there go. her mental bodies so tough was put in on the issue that sometimes it seemed that he was not speaking to the whole country or for the whole world to listen but he was addressing the people directly in this particular hole those who gathered to listen to what he had to say russia's lawmakers people from the cultural sears and military coup or david in order that we could you know when you can how can people trust an official or a politician who talks a lot about the good of russia at the same time trying to take his money out of the country i ask you to support the bill to limit the amount of foreign accounts and staunch that officials and politicians can have. if the people. don't applaud yet maybe you will like everything i have to say in just one week's time i didn't put in we'll be holding an annual press conference for the world media and the eyes of the entire planet will again be on the russian president

let's see russia r.t. reporting from inside the kremlin but ima put him said the world faces more big changes in the coming years wants russia to be ready relations with the u.s. are always in focus and the chairman from russia's lower house of parliament says mutual accusations and acting alone in the world are not the way forward. we have heard a lot of accusations towards russia from the west lately from hillary clinton from the european parliament and from some western politicians and it has basically led to nowhere we can exchange as many accusations as we want with the worst on the syrian crisis but it does not lead to the solution of this crisis and putin was absolutely right to point out that there is no possibility in the modern world to solve those sharp international issues. you know that's real basis and the united states the american political class have to understand this my feeling is that the

largest part of the american political class is still living in the twentieth century they have not come into the twenty first century yet they sink america is an impotent sink america can do whatever it wants it's not the case and the syrian crisis shows that the development of china is a big challenge for the united states so i think that put his message was very brief but terrorism both look at the more the world. have a reasonable assessment of your own capacities and resources and come to the conclusion that if you act alone you will fail. palestinians are giving a whole new meaning to launching a perf you were talking with i don't like you looking at the end to seventy five what's that you say well it's a fragrance with fire power named after the rocket causing used against israel's recent air fantasy as we report online curious marketing they can find out more from us plus magic numbers find out why today's date comes from some rather amusing

superstitions. twelve plus no facts about the twelfth of the twelfth yes of the twelve. the british government's policy its economy can be steadily revived but it's pensioners and young mothers who are going to pay the price to do it as polly bhojpuri explains the cost of recovery will mean penny pitching from the poorest. the brits have got it coming or off to some talks to tax some welfare that's going to see those with the least squeeze the most so while the treasury chief admits millionaires are about to get an average tax cut

a very few one hundred thousand pounds a year from next april it's the less fortunate who bear the brunt of dealing with the u.k.'s ten billion pound welfare bill but the cuts will come in disguise take for example the new so-called bedroom tax tenants in council housing will get less than benefits if their state funded accommodation is deemed too big for them some local authorities already say that could push up to four thousand people into homelessness especially as they're already being squeezed with an increased cost of living that's making christmas tough in many households the government insists it needs to fix public finances and that means cuts among voters with too little to spare the chancellor has really made the main target of his austerity the poorest families he's cutting the support received both for the working poor three tax

credits and so on also for the for those on able to work it's not just bedrooms being taxed but motherhood as well last week the chancellor announced that maternity pay would be capped meaning that pregnant women will be almost two hundred pounds worse off starting next year opposition labor m.p.'s have labelled it the mummy tax and an unprecedented raid on families and that softer those at the other end of the age scale were left reeling this year from the granny tax leaving pension as a further three hundred pounds out of pocket and a winter of worry ahead david cameron might have promised to be the best family friendly government ever but with friends like that who needs enemies. only boy egypt's opposition is calling for a no vote in the constitutional referendum on which gyptian ex-pats already become bunting meantime the president morsi says the internal vote will be done in two

stages starting saturday and concluding a week later that decision comes because of a shortage of judges to supervise it ninety percent of the country's judges say they'll boycott the referendum scene is and representative on tuesday thousands took to the streets of cairo protesting against the draft while there's been a stage to rival running to show their support it all comes amid a hard military presence after the president ordered the army to maintain security in the country meanwhile egypt's perspective and its request for an i.m.f. loan because of the crisis what he's hoping to strike a more favorable deal after the vote is completed as a music editor of pan african newswire explained to me. egypt of course is at a critical crossroads. tommy is still in dire straits the international monetary fund is under negotiations right now with the morsi government over the terms of a four point eight billion dollar loan those negotiations have been suspended pending december fifteenth vote presumably morsi administration would prefer

postponing the negotiations thinking that if the referendum goes all fall smoothly on the fifteenth that they will be in a stronger positions to negotiate better terms for this international monetary fund lol but the situation is critical you have unemployment some twenty percent of the workforce officially is out of work also the national debt is mounting tourism which is a mainstay of the egyptian economy is extremely under stress due to the uprisings that have taken place over the last two years. the government has opened fire on christmas shoppers in oregon in the united states two people were killed and one injured in portland before the suspect apparently turned the weapon on himself the man was reportedly wearing a cow floods sinton hockey carrying an assault rifle a police investigation is underway the latest pictures from the scene that. no the world views an update about the venezuelan president hugo chavez who is on the go

on his fourth cancer surgery in cuba doc says describing the surgery as successful charge means chavez meantime the last week his supporters to back vice president nicolas maduro should his condition force him to give up his presidential duties his latest treatment comes two months after he was reelected in what was a tight rope. we've seen seems like this before from ukraine but you're seeing it again more brawling inside ukraine's parliament this time punches being traded by m.p.'s in the new assembly lawmakers from the party of the current country's jailed former prime minister you get into shank a wall paulo behringer image the slogan freedom for political prisoners attacked two members of their own party accusing them of defecting to the current president . his party secured a slim majority in a disputed election. don't get you give breast of all the news twenty four seven from us at r.t.

dot com no buses in the united states may no longer be a place for private conversation that's according to the news website the daily which claims it's got evidence showing public transport is being equipped with ordeal recording devices the multibillion dollar upgrades to boost passenger security apparently and is reportedly already under way in several u.s. cities the man who broke the news michael brick told us the new technology sparks all kinds of privacy concerns though. privacy experts have different concerns that that when went with other sorts of technologies that they were all familiar with and some of their in development such as racial recognition software g.p.s. devices and a number of other technologies on the market already are coming to market that this can lead us down to. one step closer to tracking individual privacy law experts i spoke to said that this is. a different dimension it's one thing to be

able to see someone moving around it's a different thing to be able to secure what they're saying good rough to great programs lined up to for the rest of the evening as well as the news as well of course our next program laura liston's she brings us and latest thoughts on the global financial headlines tonight's edition of capital account on air than on r.t. international. this break. the mighty volga that runs deep through the russian soul has provided inspiration for songs and poems and is the country's main north south artery and decades ago schumann ingenuity connected it to the dawn river to the west the vocal dawn canal is an engineering marvel within a day a vessel can pass the canals thirteen blocks ten million tons of shipping does so

every year. another concrete giant is this finished fifty years ago it's the biggest hydroelectric plant in europe it powers the local city of volgograd and sends lots more electricity to moscow the hydroelectric plant behind me is a potent example of how much the volga can provide but harnessing the revelent this isn't without its cost. fishermen have been watching fish stocks for years they see the slow damage the downing of the river has done especially to russia's prized sturgeon the source of caviar. the hydroelectric plant has done significant damage because it stocked fish swimming up river to the spawning grounds. within a year all these houses would have gone fallen into the river depending on how many of the hydroelectric plants turbines are on the water level can change suddenly and dramatically too suddenly for the banks to absorb. control of the river flow by the

plant has made building on the shoulders floodplain more attractive serious floods are less likely but the water that is put into the drains is taken away from the fish that need it now but last the voice of the voters of color jay might start being heard. the first time in fifty years the rules will contain a point on maintaining biodiversity in the river we still have a chance to bring the volga back to. meaning that the money to vote is treated with the respect it deserves. good afternoon welcome to capital account i'm lauren lyster here in washington d.c. these are your headlines for tuesday december eleventh two thousand and twelve when talking about fiscal cliff solutions anti-tax advocate grover norquist we all know

him he says nothing's changed from two years ago when president obama agreed to extend bush tax cuts for all. comers not strong show the argument to raise taxes now it is not only better than it was two years ago. but does the government need to tax and borrow in order to spend or is the government actually less constrained in its spending than believed and do budget deficits matter much less right now than we may think well stephanie helton chair of the economics department at university of missouri kansas city and a subscriber of modern monetary theory is here to talk about just that plus the senate is reportedly looking at extending a two thousand and eight at the i.c. financial crisis measure that guarantees one hundred percent of all checking account bank deposits now the c b o estimates the f.d.a. as the does not collect enough fees to offset the risk exists as another subsidy for too big to fail banks we have a reality check plus a talian technocrat leader mario monti versus bunga bunga three time former prime

minister silvio berlusconi their latest debate centers around a different approach to bond yields will cover the spread in loose change let's get to today's capital account. government budget deficits do they matter of course but looking at the fiscal cliff debate it actually seems most seem to agree with that statement i just made though folks may disagree on the best way or time to address them here's the but is this framework misguided well yes according to supporters of m.m.t. at least as far as i can tell it's a theory we've been hearing more and more about over the years some guests on this show have revealed shades of it but we haven't really gotten into

a discussion about it now some press attention has been given more it seems in the last year or so here's an article from the washington post modern monetary theory an unconventional take on economic strategy and further in this off article it talks about deficit our walls and so not hawks or does but owls now where did this term come from well according to the article it was coined by stephanie kelton a professor at the university of missouri at kansas city who with another gentleman talked about in the article is part of a small group of economists who have concluded that everyone members of congress think tank denizens the entire mainstream of the economics profession has misunderstood how the government interacts with the economy if their theory dubbed modern monetary theory or and then t. is right then everything we thought we knew about the budget taxes and the federal reserve is wrong so here to really discuss what m. and t. is and what it's advocating is stephanie her self so first of all thank you so much for being on the show professor cult and we're very excited to go.